Skills-Based Coaching

It’s the middle of December and due to snow on the ground and decreasing temperatures, our access the driving range and golf course are now limited. But even though we live in an area where the weather is too cold and sometimes makes it impossible to go to the range or play golf, we can still satisfy our itch to work on our golf games during the off-season. If you are a die-hard golfer who is unable to get away to a warmer climate this winter, you will need to find other ways to work on your game! Believe it or not, the winter season is the perfect time to improve a few neglected areas of your golf game including: putting, chipping, pitching practice, and even working on your setup and full swing.

Use alignment sticks for a putting track.

Putting – All it takes is a smooth indoor carpet or a putting mat made of artificial turf with a hole. Putt into a glass at the end of hallway, or you can purchase a metal putting cup. A great drill while putting indoors is to try to make three putts in a row from three, four, and five, all the way up to ten feet. The goal is to make three in a row before you can move to the next distance. Another drill is to put a quarter underneath your ball and keep your eyes on the quarter as it drops to the ground after you’ve hit the putt and completed your stroke. A training aide to help your putting path, such as alignment sticks for a putting track, is also very helpful. Do you have a pre-putt routine? If not, now is the time to make develop one. I use a black sharpie line to help square up my putter head, this makes putting alignment just about automatic.

Chippingand Pitching – As a junior golfer I would try to chip into a small net off of a mat in our finished basement. This was great practice because it forced me to have a good setup, become more accurate, and use proper technique because if I missed the net I ran the risk of breaking something! We also had a ping pong set in the basement and I soon discovered that a safer way to work on my chipping was to use ping pong balls. The damage you can do is little to none and you can get a great feel for creating backspin. Focus on a good setup with a narrow stance and weight forward, slight hinge during backswing to get the club up, strike down on the ball to pinch it off of the carpet, and maintain a firm left wrist position through impact. For pitching, give yourself a small obstacle to go over in order to force you to hit the ball higher with more hinge during the backswing.

Full Swing – If you have the space, set up a net and hitting mat in your basement or garage. Swinging in front of a mirror is one of my favorites; you get instant visual feedback on how you are doing. You should have an idea of what positions to look for during your backswing and downswing. Mirror work is also good for developing better posture at address. Work on a contrast drill in order to help your posture. First, setup with too much knee flex and a rounded back on purpose. Next, setup with no knee flex and standing very tall with your upper body. Now setup in between those two extremes and have a slight knee flex, bend over from the hip flexors while keeping your back flat and relaxing your head so your eyes are able to comfortably look down where the ball will be located. Our brains need contrast in order to develop these skills and the mirror will give you visual confirmation of what an athletic setup should look like and what the wrong way looks like as well.

This type of training can sometimes be more valuable than hitting a large bucket of balls on the range. So don’t wait until the snow melts or the weather improves, you can do a lot to improve your golf game during the cold months. You should also be setting your golf related goals for the 2014 season. Remember, you only have from now until the end of December to purchase discounted lesson packages. This is a great time to set up your lessons for next season and to make a commitment to improvement. I’m excited to help you achieve your goals and become my next success story!

The chip shot and the pitch shot are two different kinds of shots. In the chip the clubface is de-lofted, and the ball is back in the stance with the shaft leaning forward. This shot has more ground time and less time spent in the air, you hit the ball and then the turf with the leading edge. When hitting a pitch shot off of a tight fairway lie, the last thing we want to have happen is to expose that sharp leading edge. In the pitch shot, the shaft is in a more neutral/vertical orientation at impact with the face slightly open, which exposes the bounce. The goal when pitching is more air time and less roll time. In this technique you can get away with hitting it a little “fat” or behind the ball and the bounce allows the club to slide along the grass and under the ball in a forgiving way without digging. Chip using the leading edge, pitch using the bounce.

Notice in the above pitching sequence: Tiger hinges the club during the backswing, hands leading slightly at impact, and aggressive shoulder turn through…not much of a divot just a clean brush of the turf using the bounce of his wedge.

Pitching technique points to remember:

Setup:

Weight left (60%); narrow stance

Hands high, standing fairly close to the ball

Clubface slightly open (varies for special situations and lies)

Ball position in the center

Early wrist cock on backswing; no weight transfer

Flat left wrist at impact

Turn through to the finish with belt buckle and chest facing target

Key Points:

– Less active lower body during backswing to more active during follow through

– Hands high to prevent the heel from grabbing and clubface slightly open to prevent the leading edge from digging

It is very important to make sure that your wedges have enough bounce and that your loft and lie angles are correct. Contact Mike for a wedge fitting and more pitching instruction.